Summary
- Call of Duty games have set new records with budgets reaching up to $700 million.
- Black Ops Cold War's $700 million budget surpasses even Star Citizen.
- Rising AAA game budgets highlight the escalating costs in the video game industry.
Activision has disclosed the budgets of three Call of Duty games, with some reaching impressively high figures ranging from $450 to $700 million. These massive Call of Duty development budgets mark the highest ever seen for the franchise, with Black Ops Cold War at the top.
Creating video games is a complex and costly endeavor, often spanning several years. While indie games can be developed on modest budgets, sometimes funded through platforms like Kickstarter, the AAA gaming sector operates on a much larger scale. The budgets for blockbuster titles have been steadily increasing, outstripping those of games once considered expensive. Notable examples of high-budget games include Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2, yet none of these match the recently revealed budgets for Call of Duty titles.
According to a report by Game File, Patrick Kelly, Activision's head of creative for the Call of Duty franchise, disclosed in a California court filing on December 23 the budgets for Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War. The latter's development cost exceeded $700 million, took years to complete, and sold over 30 million copies. Modern Warfare, developed by Infinity Ward, had a budget of more than $640 million and sold 41 million copies. Black Ops 3, with the lowest budget of the three at $450 million, still significantly outpaces the $220 million spent on The Last of Us Part 2.
Black Ops Cold War Exceeded $700 Million in Development Costs
The budget for Black Ops Cold War is the highest ever recorded in the video game industry, surpassing even Star Citizen's $644 million, which was funded through crowdfunding over 11 years. It's remarkable that Black Ops Cold War was financed by a single company.
Considering the trend of increasing budgets, it's intriguing to speculate how much the costs for games like Black Ops 6 might have risen since Black Ops Cold War's release in 2020. For perspective, the 1997 release of Final Fantasy 7, a groundbreaking game at the time, had a budget of $40 million, which was considered substantial. Today, that figure pales in comparison to the budgets of modern AAA titles. Activision's recent disclosures underscore the escalating costs within the video game industry.
